Toes In The Water, Toes In The Sand

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

As I am here in California doing my internship, I am away
from my family.Add in the fact that my
parents live in west Asia, and my siblings multiple time zones away, I ended up
just staying put for thanksgiving.However, I had no idea what to do.In previous years, I had always volunteered to work on Thanksgiving to
make more money.To avoid cooking, I
would usually stop by a fast food restaurant and pig out by buying enough fatty
foods to last me the rest of the day, and sometimes beyond.However, with no work to be had, I found out
from a rugby teammate of mine that the Santa Monica Shelter provided food to
underprivileged families on thanksgiving, and that I could volunteer to work
there.

So on Thanksgiving I showed up at 6 am to volunteer, and
there was a huge line of people.As it
turned out, this was one of the only places that you could volunteer and work
without having to sign up.Because of
that, there were probably 60-80 high school kids there to get service credit
for some school class.This place was
also allowing service to count towards community service for the penal system.This attracted 60 or so parolees as well, who
were talking about past crimes, where they served time, etc…

My "Shift" Of Volunteers Standing Around Our Handy Work Waiting For The Doors To Be Opened For The Families

There were so many volunteers, that they would only allow us
to work in two hour shifts, then ask us to leave and walk around the building
and stand in line by the side entrance to volunteer for another shift two hours
later.I stayed for two shifts (6 hours)
and then decided it was so crazy that I would just head home and watch
football.It was fun to see some of the
families come in, sit down, and then have us bring the food to their tables restaurant
style.However, it quickly became
evident that there were more volunteers than there were people needing/wanting
to be served.Because of this, the
organizers asked us to sit down and eat once our shift was over, as they had
excess food.

But I had already planned to do the fast food thing like I had
done in previous years, so I was ready to splurge.But to my shock, Wendy’s and Taco Bell were
both closed.Thank heaven for Jack in
the Box, as they were open.It didn’t surprise
me at all that there was a lot of people inside, as well as long lines in the
drive through.I ordered multiple
burgers and a large shake.The burgers
would be able to last me for lunch, dinner, and potentially breakfast J (don’t judge, as a
single male, I am allowed to eat fast food for breakfast).

As I had not eaten anything all day, the food only lasted me
up until just before I went to sleep, causing me to grab some pizza for lunch
the next day.But all in all, it was a
very memorable Thanksgiving.

As the semester is winding down, I am able to look back and
see that I have indeed met some of my goals, but I still have a long way to
go.My internship is actually a
two-semester internship and it is just heating up.My coworker and I are part of a brand new fellowship
being offered by ASU’s School of Public Affairs.As the guinea pigs we have kind of had to
roll with the punches and make a lot up as we go along.Admittedly the two cities we were supposed to
work with have had some large things on their plates, and now that that the
holidays are here, some of the intended projects have been hit and miss.However, we have been contacted about being
included in a couple of really interesting projects starting in January.

For this current month of December, we are focusing on
helping the Alliance for Innovation update their 2013 case studies. This has resulted in my coworker and I reading dozens and dozens of case studies. This has been a welcome addition as I have
been able to read numerous case studies addressing a large
variety of local government topics. These topics include everything from transportation management to water
purification in the inner cities.I
believe that this will provide me with a wealth of knowledge in preparation for
my working with city managers in January.

While my internship is just beginning to heat up, I do feel
that this semester has provided me with a better understanding of the inner
workings of local government.I have
been lucky enough to start getting a behind the scenes look at two of America’s
iconic cities.As the cities transition
into a new year, and with them promising to provide even more access, I am very
encouraged about the semester to come.

I am writing to express my thanks for this past semester as
an inaugural California Fellow.I thank
you for allowing Cassie and me the opportunity to live and work here in Santa
Monica, strengthening the partnership between the Alliance and ASU.I know that this semester has been rather
frustrating for you for a myriad of reasons, but I believe that we have learned
a lot, and opened up important channels of communications that are going to
allow Cassie and me to expand and accomplish much more in depth work for the
cities of Santa Monica and West Hollywood.Without your assistance, these lines of communication could not have
been opened.You have had our backs
throughout these challenges and have gone to bat to help make the semester as
successful as possible.I look forward
to the New Year and the challenges that have been promised in the new
semester.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

So, as I
am currently living in LA, I am unable to attend the career service events for
the class.However, as me and my
coworker (also in this internship class) have found, there are a vast library
of webinars available for ASU students.To make up for my career service event, I chose to watch a webinar from
November 15th by Jennifer Rhodes.The webinar is titled “How do I use LinkedIn for Networking and a Jo
Search”.

I chose
this webinar for a couple of reasons.First and foremost, I will be graduating next summer and could use any
small advantage possible.Second, I have
been meaning to create a LinkedIn profile for a couple years now, but have
never really gotten around to utilizing one.I did actually start one about a year ago with the help of a friend, but
I have not looked at it since that first day.Needless to say, I don’t even know what LinkedIn is capable of.I found this webinar very inspiring and
informative.I would recommend any
student who is curious to check it out.It was 56 minutes well spent.

The first
thing that jumped out at me was that the presenter highlighted that LinkedIn is
a great networking tool.She shared a
statistic that over 70% of available jobs are never even posted.This means that establishing networks and connections
will likely be the most important method of finding a job opportunity.

Another
interesting recommendation that stuck out to me was to look up your
interviewers on LinkedIn before going into an interview.This is one way to gather background
information and provide you with topics to use in conversation.I guess it is like Facebook stalking, only to
find a job rather than spy on your friends J.

That
said, all of the bells and whistles that are found on LinkedIn remind me of
Facebook.The LinkedIn interface allows
you to input much more information than would be warranted on a resume.You can get recommendations from previous
employers and coworkers, or even upload presentations or previous work that you
have accomplished.You can even see key
anniversary dates (hiring or promotion date) of those in your network.This way you can congratulate them to
maintain communication.(I guess this is
akin to the birthday feature on Facebook)

For
anyone who is not a wiz at LinkedIn, I would recommend you go here to listen to
this webinar.I realize that I am not
fully using all the tools that I have at my disposal.I know what I will be doing tonight J.